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Steps to success with epoxy flooring

For their 1630' shop, Mike and Marta Clark wanted the benefits of a low-maintenance epoxy floor, including easy sweep-up of wood chips and dust. To ensure top-quality results, they followed the directions from EPOXYShield, a two-part Rust-Oleum coating formulated for garage floors, and learned a few things along the way. Follow along as they take you through the process.

Steps to success with epoxy flooring

To make sure their concrete floor was well-prepared, a firefighter and his wife invested two afternoons in a thorough prep before opening the gallon cans of epoxy.

Steps to success with epoxy flooring

After sweeping the floor thoroughly, Mike mists the concrete with water. (A damp surface slows the etch in the next step from sucking into the concrete too quickly.)

Steps to success with epoxy flooring

Marta sprinkles an 8x10' section with a citric etch. The chemical action between the etch and alkaline in the concrete opens pores (imagine a slightly pitted surface), which allows the epoxy to adhere.

Steps to success with epoxy flooring

After allowing the etch to work on the concrete for 2 minutes, Marta scrubs the floor with a stiff-bristle 18"-wide broom. Unlike muriatic acid, citric etch is safe to plants and doesn't release fumes.

Steps to success with epoxy flooring

Mike rinses the etch from the floor while Marta pushes the water to the open garage door with a soft-bristle broom.

Steps to success with epoxy flooring

To speed drying of the floor, Mike draws up water from the saw cuts and corners of the room using a wet/dry vacuum .